This week’s feature in Rapper in the Spotlight is the singer-songwriter and rapper ‘PENOMECO’. His stage name is the result of the combination between the Japanese phrase, ‘peno’, meaning pen, and ‘meco’ being the short for the phrase “Made in Korea”.
Jung Dong-wook (PENOMECO) debuted in 2014 under the record label Broadway with the single ‘Right There’. After listening to it, I felt like this song showed his style and what he was going for with his music. It is an R&B influenced song that sets his vibe from the start. His music has slightly changed and it is a mix of R&B and Hip-Hop, it suits his voice perfectly. If you haven’t listened it, you can check it out here.
He participated in ‘Show Me The Money 6’ and even though he didn’t pass the one on one round, his song ‘Till I Die’ will remain legendary in my eyes. He performed it in the music show: ‘Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook’, take a look at the performance here.
PENOMECO is well known for producing and writing most of his songs. He has quite a few under his name and he has also produced and written tracks for other artists and idol groups such as EXO, Red Velvet, ITCY, GOT7, Block B and others.
He was part of the survival show ‘Breakers’ in which singer-songwriters had to prove their abilities to compose, write and deliver their own music. PENOMECO won and his song ‘WTF (Went Too Far)’ will remain one of my favorites forever.
In some of his interviews he opened up about the difficult times he went through with his family during his youth. His song ‘Good Morning’ talks about him and his family journey from a positive side (so wholesome). Here are a couple of verses:
“Owner of the FamilyMart in front of Gunpo Station
Give me my months-late paycheck
When the overdue goshiwon rent becomes my motivation for the day”
“If I met my twenty-year-old self
I will definitely tell him proudly that he did a good job
I count on you
Lyrics written on notepad paper all piled up
After sweeping off all the dust
The stage becomes possible again
Gotta do ma thing mama
Just wait, dad”
He is now under ‘Million Market’ and is also part of the hip-hop/R&B crew ‘FANXY CHILD’ alongside Dean, Zico, Crush, Stay Tuned and Millic. What a legendary line-up. They released the song ‘Y’ this year and it is one of my favorite 2019 releases, if you haven’t seen it yet, definitely check it out below.
PENOMECO’s releases as a solo artist and as a feature are really good, so make sure to listen to his entire playlist, they are all unskippable.
Let us know, what is your favorite song by PENOMECO, or which artists you think we should feature next.
